


Of Waterfalls and Summer Storms

by as_with_a_sunbeam



Category: 18th Century CE RPF, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: 1782, Birthday, Cohoes Falls, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 02:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11750196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/as_with_a_sunbeam/pseuds/as_with_a_sunbeam
Summary: In celebration of Eliza's twenty-fifth birthday, she and Hamilton escape for the day to Cohoes Falls. A picnic, a ridiculously corny toast, and an obligatory kiss in the rain: what more could a girl want?A short little romantic piece in honor of Elizabeth Hamilton's 260th birthday.





	Of Waterfalls and Summer Storms

**Author's Note:**

> Some implied sexual content, but nothing explicit

Pausing again on the trail, Eliza stepped closer to the edge of the path to admire the view of the powerful waterfall. Cohoes Falls was as beautiful a place as she had ever seen. Now that her husband had successfully completed his examination in the law, she leaped at the chance to steal him away for the day to show it to him. Her birthday made for the perfect excuse to drag him away from his work.

“Please be careful,” her husband admonished as he carefully made his way towards her.

She turned to look back at him. Sweat was starting to bead on his brow and he adjusted the picnic basket to his other hand. The summer day was warm, worse so with the unrelenting humidity they’d been enduring for days. “Are you all right, sweetheart?” she called to him over the dull roar of the fall.

He grunted in response, his attention focused on his footing.

Finally catching up to her, he held out his arm. She raised her brow at his show of chivalry. “I don’t need help, darling,” she refused with a wry smile.

“I do,” he replied. She laughed and took the arm he offered. “You said we were taking an easy ramble through the countryside.”  

“We are,” she shrugged.

“For you, maybe. You’re as sure footed as a mountain goat.”

“What a thing to call your wife,” she teased.

Realizing his gaff, he added quickly, with wide, earnest eyes, “And as beautiful as an angel.”

“An admirable recovery, Colonel Hamilton,” she congratulated him.

He winked and gave her his most charming smile. “Thank you.”

“Or should I say counselor now?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Not quite yet. I’ve only passed the bar; I can’t argue cases yet.”

She kissed his cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”

He grinned, then frowned as his foot slipped on the steep path.

Eliza adjusted her grip on his arm and assured him, “The view is best just up ahead.”

Arm in arm, they made their way to the picnic area Eliza favored. Hamilton removed the blanket from their basket and laid it carefully over the rocky ground. She sat down first. When Hamilton settled down, she slid back between his legs to lean against him. His arms wrapped around her waist and he pressed a kiss against her temple.

Taking a deep breath, she relaxed in her husband’s arms and took in the scene before her. Summer being in full force, the trees were lush green, brilliant against the bright blue sky. Wildflowers grew up around the tall grass, their distinct fragrance wafting on the slight breeze. Where the water was calm, it sparkled in the sunlight, before turning a foamy white as it rushed over the falls. The roar of the water mixed in with the birdsong overhead to create the unique music of the Falls that she adored.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Beautiful,” he whispered.

She glanced back to find him staring at her. Twisting her torso, she adjusted to give him a long, lingering kiss. As she pulled back, she stared up into his sparkling blue eyes and sighed.

“Yes,” she agreed, dragging a finger across his cheekbone. “Beautiful.”

He gave her a sultry stare as he laid back on the blanket, pulling her down with him. Her lips went to his neck as she adjusted on top of him. He gave a sensual moan, then a slightly pained grunt.

“Wait,” he breathed out, arching his back under her. His hand left her back, reaching down under the blanket.

“What?”

His face was pinched as his hand searched beneath him. Then his expression cleared, a sunny smile overtaking his face. “Rock under my back. It’s gone now.”

She rolled her eyes and kissed him firmly.

 

Eliza lifted the top of the picnic basket, smirking as she felt her husband’s thumb stroking at her hip. Shooing his hand away, she handed back the bottle of wine. “Open this.”

He sighed as he took the bottle, dutifully working out the cork as ordered. She unpacked the bread, cheese, pork, and fresh blueberries, then placed two plates and two wine glasses on the blanket between them. Hamilton poured the wine while she made up their plates.

He raised his glass when she lifted hers from the blanket. “A very happy birthday to my beautiful wife. On this day, twenty-five years ago, the Lord saw fit to bring to an end the dark seven months I was forced to live on this earth without you. I give thanks daily that He gifted you to this world, and, more miraculously still, sent you to me.”

She grinned at him. “That dark seven months you spent without me? As an infant?”

He nodded earnestly. “A world without you? Even a day is too long.”

Trying to hold in a laugh, she cooed, “I’m sorry to hear you suffered so.”

“It was a terrible, trying time,” he said seriously. A laugh bubbled out of her, and he smiled at her beatifically. “Happy birthday, my love.”

“Thank you,” she replied, clinking her glass against his.

They began on their little feast, eating most of the pork and a good deal of the bread and cheese. Hamilton fed her a blueberry, his thumb lingering on her lips much longer than necessary. She smiled, inching closer to kiss him properly.

The sun disappeared behind a cloud as she pulled back, and she looked up to see ominous dark clouds gathering in the sky above them. Frowning, she suggested, “Perhaps we should pack up and start back. It looks like rain.”

He wrinkled in his nose in displeasure, but agreed. “Yes, I suppose we should.”

They had just started back up the path when a raindrop hit Eliza’s nose. The rain started pattering down at a steady pace within minutes. They were still some distance from their carriage when the sky opened completely, pouring water down furiously upon them. Hamilton grabbed her hand, stopping her progress along the path. He leaned down over the basket and pulled out the blanket, beckoning her closer. They both plopped down on the ground, and he held the blanket aloft over them both to keep them from an even worse dousing.

Eliza looked over at him, dripping wet and shadowed by the large blanket. “Just a passing summer storm,” she consoled him.

 “This isn’t quite the end to our romantic picnic that I’d had in mind,” he commented, sniffling as a raindrop dangled off the end of his nose.

She shook her head and placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him down onto the now muddy path. The blanket fell down over them. It was a poor shield from the driving rain anyway, she told herself.

She kissed him slowly before placing her lips close to his ear. “It’s perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to post a short piece in honor of the day: August 9, 2017 is Eliza's 260th birthday. Happy Birthday, Eliza! 
> 
> In August of 1782, Hamilton had just passed the bar exam in New York. He'd go on to further qualify as a counselor, who could argue cases before the court, in October of that year. He'd only been studying for six months, because, of course :)
> 
> This piece was mostly inspired by the Tench Tilghman diary entry where he discusses going on a hike to Cohoes Falls with Eliza on August 23, 1775: “We arrived at the Cohoes around 11 o’clock. We had not the pleasure of viewing the beautiful Fall, to the best advantage, as the Water (from the lowness of the River for want of Rain) did not run over more than one half of the precipice of the rock which I am informed is 74 feet in Height, the river there is about 400 yards wide we with much difficulty descended the Hills almost perpendicular to the foot of the Falls. My foot once slipped and Miss Lynch who I was supporting and myself had like to have taken a short turn to the bottom. I fancy Miss Schuyler had been used to ramble over and climb grounds of this sort for she disdained all assistance and made herself merry at the distress of the other Ladies.” 
> 
> Because you know Eliza brought Ham to Cohoes Falls, and that she absolutely laughed at him trying to navigate the steep path around the falls.


End file.
